Best Late-Game Champions in League of Legends

These are the champions graded S in The Scaling Codex, the ones that decide a fight at forty minutes rather than merely surviving one. Every grade here is an argument about a coordinated objective fight at full build.

24 champions carry this marker. Graded by Vambient. How the grades are decided.

• SAmbessaBest late
• SApheliosBest late
• SAurelion SolInfinite scaling
• SAzirBest late
• SBel'VethInfinite scaling
• SGangplankBest late
• SJannaTeam utility
• SJinxBest late
• SKarthusBest late
• SKayleBest late
• SKindredInfinite scaling
• SKog'MawBuild-dependent
• SLuluTeam utility
• SOriannaBest late
• SRyzeBest late
• SSennaInfinite scaling
• SSeraphineTeam utility
• SSmolderInfinite scaling
• SSonaTeam utility
• SSyndraBest late
• STwitchBest late
• SViktorBest late
• SVladimirBest late
• SXerathBest late

What puts a champion in this tier

Three things recur. Range or target access that does not depend on walking through a front line. A cooldown that changes the shape of a fight rather than adding damage to it. And output that still moves health bars after the enemy has spent forty minutes buying defensive items. A champion with all three is usually here. A champion with one is usually a tier down.

Best late is a narrow claim

It describes the fight a game ends on, assuming the game reaches it. Plenty of champions graded far lower hold higher win rates, because they close before the deciding fight exists. Read this list as a description of what happens at forty minutes, then decide whether you want the game to get there.